83 


THE   SUN'S  INFLyB#£Ey<2N   THE   FORM 

\  j     >    j       *    j  j  j     j    j 

.OF   HQJJI  ,  PUEBLQS , 


BY 

J.   WALTER  FEWKES 


Department  of  Middle 
American  Research 
Tulane  University  of 
Louisiana, 


Reprinted  from  the  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  (N.  s. ),  Vol.  8,  No.  i, 
January-March,  1906 


Lancaster,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A. 
The  New  Era  Printing  Company 
1906 


[DEPARTMENTS  MIDDLE  AMERICAN  RESEARCH 

'   THE  THANE  UMVEBSmrof  LOUISIANA 
NEW  OttlCANS 


[Reprinted  from  the  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST,  Vol.  8,  No.  i,  Jan.  -March,  1906.] 


o' 

&  (. 

THE   SUN'S    INFLUENCE    ON    THE    FORM 

OF   HOPI    PUEBLOS1  y 

BY  J.   WALTER   FEWKES 

In  a  valuable  memoir  on  Pueblo  architecture2  Mr  Victor  Min- 
deleff  first  called  attention  to  the  arrangement  of  houses  in  Hopi 
pueblos  in  parallel  rows  separated  by  courts  or  plazas.  He  might 
have  added  that  these  rows  of  houses,  as  their  parallelism  infers, 
are  oriented  in  a  uniform  direction  without  regard  to  the  configura 
tion  of  the  mesa  on  which  they  are  situated.  The  object  of  this 
article  is  to  suggest  the  cause  of  this  uniform  arrangement  and  ori 
entation,  and  to  discuss  its  influence  on  clan  localization.  I  shall 
also  consider  historic  modifications  of  pueblos  of  this  tribe  produced 
by  the  accession  of  new  clans  as  recounted  in  legends.  My  discus 
sion  will  be  limited  to  the  villages  on  the  East  Mesa,  called  Walpi, 
Sichomovi,  and  Hano,  restricting  the  consideration  to  the  time  they 
have  stood  on  their  present  sites,  or,  roughly  speaking,  to  the  last 
three  centuries.  The  thesis  that  I  seek  to  defend  is  as  follows  : 
The  arrangement  and  orientation  of  houses  in  Hopi  pueblos  are 
largely  due  to  an  attempt  to  secure  sunny  exposures  for  entrances 
and  terraces  and  consequent  protection  from  cold  and  wind.  The 
facts  discussed,  like  many  others  before  the  ethnogeographer,  illus 
trate  the  influence  of  climatic  or  environmental  conditions  on  human 
culture  development. 

It  may  lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  discussion  if  I  point 
out  in  the  beginning  that  a  modification  has  taken  place  in  certain 
architectural  features  of  Hopi  houses  since  contact  with  Europeans. 
Little  change  has  occurred  in  the  forms  of  the  buildings  or  the  mode 
of  construction  of  their  walls  —  indeed  the  pueblo  has  profoundly 
influenced  the  Mexican  house  builder  in  that  particular  —  but  the 
relative  position  of  entrances,  especially  those  of  the  lower  story,  is 


1  Read  before  the  Association  of  Geographers,  New  York,  December,  1905. 

2  Eighth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Washington,  1891. 


tit 


89  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.,  8,  1906 

radically  different  in  old  and  new  Hopi  houses.  An  examination  of 
ruins  that  antedate  the  arrival  of  Europeans  shows  a  total  absence 
of  doorways  in  the  wa,lls  of  basal  rooms,  the  entrances  being  uni 
versally  hatchways  or  openings  in  the  roof  to  which  one  mounted 
by  a  ladder.  The  chamber  of  the  second  story,  however,  was  en 
tered  through  the  side  wall  from  the  roof  of  the  lowest  story.  In 
both  old  and  new  houses  lateral  entrances  are  essential  features  of 
higher  rooms,  an  arrangement  that  imparts  to  a  four-storied  pueblo, 
like  Walpi,  a  terraced  form.  The  roofs  or  terraces  of  a  pueblo  habi 
tation  are  customarily  used  by  the  inhabitants  in  daily  occupations 
almost  as  much  as  the  rooms  themselves,  for  exposure  to  the  sun 
and  protection  from  cold  winds  are  especially  desirable  in  these 
places. 

These  roof  terraces  and  lateral  doorways,  ancient  and  modern, 
as  a  rule  are  situated  on  the  same  side  of  the  houses  :  their  orientation 
is  generally  south  or  east  or  somewhere  between  these  two  directions. 
The  axis  of  a  row  of  such  houses  is  naturally  at  right  angles  to  this 
orientation,  or  approximately  north  by  south.  Let  us  analyze  the 
probable  cause  that  has  led  to  the  union  of  houses  in  rows  and  aim 
to  discover  the  origin  of  their  growth  in  this  direction  rather  than 
in  any  other. 

Starting  with  a  single  habitation  housing  one  clan  or  family  as  a 
nucleus,  suppose  that  this  clan  by  marriage  of  eligible  daughters  is 
rapidly  increasing  and  the  maternal  house  is  not  ample  to  accom 
modate  the  increased  family.  In  other  words,  the  family  has  out 
grown  its  original  house,  and  it  has  become  necessary  to  build  new 
rooms  to  the  old  rather  than  to  construct  new  dwellings.  These 
rooms  may  be  built  on  the  sides,  or,  if  space  allows,  on  the  roof  of 
the  mother's  house.  It  is  evident  that  there  are  limitations  to  the 
capacity  of  the  roof,  and  additions  to  two  of  the  four  sides  are  unde 
sirable  for  the  reason  that  a  room  constructed  on  the  east  or  south 
walls  would  exclude  the  sun  with  its  warmth  from  the  maternal 
house,  while  one  on  the  opposite  (west  or  north)  sides  would  be 
equally  undesirable,  as  the  sun  would  be  shut  out,  thus  exposing 
the  dwelling  to  the  cold.  The  northwest  and  southeast  walls  are 
advantageous  for  additions  to  the  parental  abode,  since  they  permit 
the  new  habitations  to  have  heliotropic  exposures  without  interfering 


FEWKES]  SUN'S  INFLUENCE  ON  HOPI  PUEBLOS  QO 

with  that  of  buildings  already  standing.  Similar  restrictions  also 
governed  the  addition  of  subsequent  rooms  made  necessary  by  family 
increase,  these  increments  always  tending  to  enlarge  the  row  in  a 
northwest  or  southeast  direction  and  to  restrict  growth  at  right  angles 
to  this  axis.  As  time  went  on  the  topography  of  the  mesa  may  have 
necessitated  a  new  site  and  another  house  nucleus.  Commonly  this 
happened  when  new  clans  joined  the  pueblo.  Each  incoming  family 
was  assigned  a  site  for  its  dwelling,  but  this  site  seldom  adjoined 
houses  already  standing.  After  this  addition  had  erected  its  first 
house  the  law  of  heliotropism  regulating  the  position  of  terraces  and 
growth  of  rows  of  houses  became  operative,  eventually  leading  to 
parallelism  in  the  rows  of  rooms  already  existing.  It  will  thus  be 
seen  that  the  arrangement  of  houses  in  rows  extending  north  and 
south,  or  approximately  in  these  directions,  was  not  fortuitous  but 
was  due  to  the  position  of  the  sun  and  to  human  effort  in  obtain 
ing  a  heliotropic  exposure  for  the  maximum  number  of  terraces.  It 
is  instructive  to  consider  the  bearing  of  legends  and  the  localization 
of  clans  in  the  modern  pueblos  on  this  theory,  and  for  this  purpose 
we  will  begin  our  studies  with  the  Tewa  pueblo  of  Hano. 

GROWTH  OF  HANO 

Hano  was  founded  on  its  present  site  about  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  by  Tewa  clans  from  Chewadi,  a  pueblo  in 
the  Rio  Grande  valley  of  New  Mexico.  Legends  gathered  from 
the  present  inhabitants  declare  that  Hano  (pi.  xi)  was  developed 
from  three  originally  independent  building  centers  or  nuclei  of 
growth  that  later  grew  together  by  natural  extension.  These 
centers  of  growth  may  be  designated,  from  the  clans  that  built  and 
first  inhabited  them,  the  Tobacco-Corn,  the  Cloud-Sand,  and  the 
Katcina  houses.  In  the  beginning  the  Tobacco-Corn  habitation 
housed  three  clans  in  as  many  rooms  placed  side  by  side  with  ter 
races  facing  eastward.  These  rooms  were  inhabited  by  the  Tobacco, 
Corn,  and  Bear  families.  The  form  of  this  triple-room  house  was 
changed  in  the  first  or  second  generation  by  an  unequal  growth  of 
these  three  clans.  The  Tobacco  and  Corn  families  were  vigorous, 
increasing  rapidly  in  numbers,  while  the  Bear  people  remained 
stationary  or  declined.  The  present  localization  of  rooms  in  this 


91  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.,  8,  1906 

part  of  Hano  shows  clearly  the  effect  of  this  unequal  growth. 
Commencing  with  their  two  rooms,  the  increase  of  the  Corn  and  To 
bacco  families  led  first  to  the  construction  of  additional  upper 
stories,  but  growth  in  this  direction  soon  ceased  by  reason  of  the 
limited  surface,  hence  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge  this  roof  area 
by  lateral  additions.  The  Bear  house  prevented  growth  on  the 
northeast,  and  absence  of  sun  made  the  northwest  side  undesirable  ; 
but  two  other  sides  were  available  —  the  east  and  the  south  —  and 
the  cluster  was  forced  to  grow  in  these  directions.  Let  us  consider 
the  details  of  this  growth. 

The  Tobacco-Corn  group  of  rooms  in  Hano  is  the  first  on  the 
right  at  the  head  of  the  trail  entering  that  village.  Two  doorways 
are  seen  as  one  passes  the  kiva  and  turns  toward  this  cluster.  That 
to  the  right  enters  the  room  of  the  most  famous  potter  of  the  Hopi, 
Nampeo,  of  the  Corn  clan.  The  adjacent  chamber,  that  which 
opens  to  the  left,  belongs  to  Okun,  of  the  Tobacco  clan.  Both  of 
these  rooms  were  constructed  less  than  twenty  years  ago  and  lie  in 
front  or  to  the  east  of  the  original  rooms  of  their  respective  clans. 
An  examination  of  the  rear  walls  of  the  new  rooms  confirms  the 
statements  of  the  occupants. 

In  the  rear  wall  of  Nampeo' s  room,  about  opposite  the  entrance, 
there  is  an  opening  through  which,  using  a  few  steps,  one  may 
crawl  to  the  floor  of  a  dark  chamber.  In  this  opening,  when 
I  first  visited  Hano,  there  stood  a  notched  log  that  served  as  a  ladder 
for  mounting  to  the  chamber  of  the  old  clan  house,  now,  as  then,  a 
dark  store-room.  Nampeo's  present  dwelling  room  is  not  an  en 
largement  of  the  old  room  of  her  ancestors,  but  was  built  in  front 
of  it,  the  front  wall  of  the  latter  being  utilized  as  the  rear  of  the  new 
building.  The  floor  of  the  dark  store-room  in  the  rear  is  the  ter 
race  of  the  old  house. 

Although  the  shape  of  the  neighboring  dwelling  of  Okun  is 
somewhat  different  from  that  of  Nampeo,  it  is  of  late  construction 
and  followed  the  same  law  of  growth.  This  room  was  constructed 
around  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  old  room  of  the  same  clan. 
Its  front  wall  on  the  east  side  is  continuous  with  that  of  Nampeo's 
house,  and  the  rear  on  that  side  is  the  east  wall  of  the  ancestral 
room.  On  the  south  side,  in  the  rear,  there  still  remains  a  portion 


FEWKES]  SUN'S  INFLUENCE  ON  HOPI  PUEBLOS  Q2 

of  the  original  roof  of  the  old  house,  now  forming  a  raised  part  in 
which  are  hidden  the  effigies  of  the  great  serpent  used  in  the  March 
ceremonies.  This  new  house  owned  by  Okun  does  not  occupy  the 
entire  south  side  of  the  old  habitation  of  the  Tobacco  clan.  Adjoin 
ing  it  on  the  west  there  is  another  room,  owned  by  Hele,  Okun's 
sister,  and  therefore  of  the  same  clan.  Its  length  is  so  great  that 
it  extends  far  enough  beyond  the  south  wall  of  Okun's  house  to  have 
an  east  wall  in  which  is  a  heliotropic  doorway.  The  north  side  wall 
of  Hele's  room  is  the  original  south  wall  of  the  old  Tobacco  house, 
the  former  roof  of  which  is  now  the  floor  of  a  small  back  room. 
Communicating  with  this  are  other  back  rooms,  in  some  of  which 
hang  ancient  masks  and  other  paraphernalia  belonging  to  the  To 
bacco  clan. 

But  Hele's  room  does  not  extend  to  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
original  Tobacco-Corn  house.  Formerly,  as  late  as  1 89 1 ,  this  corner 
was  in  its  original  condition,  but  now  a  modern  room  occupies  what 
was  then  an  empty  space  separating  this  corner  from  the  row  of 
houses  on  the  western  side  of  the  plaza.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that 
no  additions  have  been  made  to  this  original  building  nucleus  on 
the  north  and  west  sides. 

We  thus  see  that  the  original  rooms  that  form  the  nucleus  of 
the  northern  end  of  Hano  have  been  modernized  by  additions,  the 
position  of  which  has  been  influenced  by  heliotropic  tendencies. 
This  cluster  does  not  contain  all  the  members  of  these  clans  in 
Hano.  A  member  of  the  Corn  clan  owns  a  house  on  the  south 
side  of  the  plaza,  although  she  lives  at  the  foot  of  the  mesa,  and 
other  members  live  elsewhere.  There  are  special  reasons,  that 
need  not  now  be  considered,  to  account  for  these  exceptions.  As  a 
rule  the  growth  of  the  house  of  the  Tobacco-Corn  clan  has  been 
profoundly  influenced  by  the  law  of  heliotropism. 

Another  nucleus  from  which  buildings  in  Hano  have  developed 
was  the  original  habitation  of  the  Cloud-Sand-Sun  group.  This 
was  situated  a  few  feet  from  the  eastern  edge  of  the  mesa,  at  no 
great  distance  south  of  the  southwest  corner  of  the  Tobacco-Corn 
building.  The  growth  from  this  center  was  linear,  forming  a  row 
of  rooms  with  heliotropic  exposure,  the  majority  of  the  doorways 
being  situated  in  the  side  walls.  This  is  the  row  of  houses  one 


93  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.,  8,  1906 

passes  in  going  through  the  pueblo  and  is  the  most  thickly  popu 
lated  part  of  Hano.  Not  more  than  fifty  years  ago  a  woman  of  the 
Cloud  clan  built  a  house  across  what  is  now  the  Hano  plaza,  about 
fifty  yards  west  of  the  house  row  above  mentioned.  Her  house, 
which  is  still  standing,  became  the  nucleus  of  a  new  row  of  rooms 
that  ultimately  joined  the  southwest  angle  of  the  old  Tobacco-Corn 
habitation.  The  Sun  clan,  formerly  an  important  member  of  the 
group,  gradually  diminished  in  number,' and  in  1892  the  last  sur 
vivor  died,  leaving  the  old  Sun  house,  situated  about  midway  in  the 
row  above  mentioned,  to  a  member  of  the  Bear  clan.  The  ground 
room  in  the  original  house  of  this  row,  which  in  1900  still  preserved 
some  of  its  ancient  features,  contains  the  masks  of  the  Sumaikoli 
that  have  been  described  elsewhere.1 

The  site  of  the  original  building  of  the  Katcina  clan  in  Hano  is 
said  to  have  been  about  due  north  of  the  Bear  house  of  the  To 
bacco-Corn  building,  where  walls  may  still  be  seen  and  where  re 
mains  of  a  kiva  are  even  now  pointed  out.  Early  in  the  history  of 
Hano  this  site  was  abandoned,  the  Katcina  clan  moving  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Tobacco  habitation,  on  aline  with  the  Cloud-Sand  house, 
a  few  feet  back  from  the  edge  of  the  mesa.  The  row  of  buildings, 
all  comparatively  modern,  that  developed  from  this  center  ulti 
mately  joined  the  Sun  house  of  the  series  above  described. 

From  what  has  been  shown  of  the  traditional  growth  of  Hano  it  is 
evident  that  the  present  village  has  been  evolved  from  three  orig 
inal  building  nuclei  and  that  the  direction  of  growth  from  these 
centers  has  been  largely  influenced  by  the  sun.  Although  the  re 
sultant  rectangular  form  differs  somewhat  from  that  of  some  other 
Hopi  pueblos,  in  which  parallelism  of  house  rows  is  now  clearly 
marked,  the  cause  of  both  is  identical. 

Other  facts  may  be  adduced  to  support  the  above  conclusions 
regarding  the  position  of  the  original  building  nuclei  revealed  by 
traditions.  The  receptacles  of  ancient  masks2  and  ceremonial 
paraphernalia  are  now  in  these  ancient  houses  and  not  in  more 


1  A  Journal  of 'American  Ethnology  and  Archeology,  II,  33-38,  1892. 

2  It  was  reported  to  me  that  in  old  times  these  masks  were  kept  in  a  shrine  outside  the 
pueblo,  but  that  in  one  of  the  Navaho  raids  they  became  scattered,  later  to  be  carried  to 
their  present  home  on  the  mesa  by  Kalacai,  of  the  Sun  clan. 


FEWKES]  SUN'S  INFLUENCE  ON  HOPI  PUEBLOS  94 

modern  constructions.  In  an  annual  ceremony  called  Powamu 
there  is  a  dramatic  representation  of  the  return  of  a  sun  god  in 
which  its  personator  visits  certain  houses  and  marks  them  with 
sacred  meal.1  The  houses  visited  by  this  personage  are  the  most 
ancient,  the  modern  habitations  being  passed  by  without  special 
notice.  The  explanation  of  this  exclusion  is  evident.  When  this 
ceremony  originated  the  only  houses  in  Hano  were  the  original 
ancient  dwellings ;  these  were  then  visited  by  the  sun-god  person 
ator  and  the  practice  has  been  kept  up  without  change  ever  since. 
The  growth  of  new  houses  in  Hano  has  resulted  in  a  rectangular 
pueblo,  but  in  some  instances  villages  of  this  form  have  been  the 
outgrowth  not  from  separate  nuclei,  but  as  an  intentional  means  of 

Protection'  Bancroft  Library 

GROWTH  OF  SICHOMOVI 

The  earliest  or  oldest  houses  of  Sichomovi  were  built  by  the 
Asa,  Badger,  and  Butterfly  clans,  the  first  of  which  once  lived  in 
Zuni,  but  came  originally  from  the  Rio  Grande.  The  Badger  and 
Butterfly  families  are  kindred  of  the  Asa,  and  although  their  de 
scendants  now  speak  Hopi,  they  are  considered  as  related  to  the 
Zuni.  It  would  appear  that  originally  the  Asa  and  Badger  rooms 
were  united  in  one  building  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the  plaza 
(pi.  xi),  and  that  this  habitation  was  the  nucleus  of  the  row  of 
rooms  on  the  west  side  of  this  court.  At  first  the  growth  of  the  Asa- 
Badger  cluster  closely  resembled  that  of  the  Tobacco-Corn  clans,  as 
traced  in  the  traditional  history  of  Hano  pueblo.  The  old  house  is 
now  somewhat  modified  by  modern  buildings,  but  remnants  of  the 
ancient  structure,  still  preserving  the  old  form,  are  still  visible.  By 
a  study  of  the  traditional  growth  of  Sichomovi  it  is  found  that  the 
growth  of  this  pueblo  has  been  northwesterly  from  the  old  Badger 
house,  and  this  house  row  now  forms  the  western  side  of  the  plaza. 
The  other  row  is  parallel  to  it,  forming  the  eastern  side  of  the  plaza. 

It  is  difficult  now  to  determine,  either  traditionally  or  from  clan 
localization,  the  situation  of  the  building  nucleus  in  this  eastern 
row,  but  the  chief  evidence  assigns  the  greatest  age  to  the  home  of 
the  Tobacco  clan.  In  its  development  from  this  center  the  growth 
has  been  due  largely  to  the  influence  of  the  sun. 


Sky-god  Personations  in  Hopi  Worship,  Jour.  Am.  Folk-lore,    XV,  14-32. 


95  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.,  8,  1906 

There  are  two  isolated  blocks  of  houses  in  Sichomovi  that  merit 
mention,  especially  as  one  of  them  is  visited  by  the  personator  of 
the  sun  in  the  yearly  Powamu  ceremony  above  mentioned.  These 
consist  of  the  house  now  inhabited  by  the  chief  Anawita  and  its 
neighboring  rooms  owned  by  the  Tobacco  clan.  The  entrances  to 
these  dwellings  are  heliotropic. 

It  is  evident  from  the  above  facts  that  Sichomovi,  like  Hano, 
has  developed  its  present  form  under  the  influence  of  the  law  of 
heliotropic  exposure  of  the  largest  number  of  terraces  and  lateral 

doorways. 

GROWTH  OF  WALPI 

Walpi,  the  oldest  and  largest  village  on  the  East  mesa,  shows 
better  than  any  other  the  operation  of  the  law  of  heliotropism  in 
determining  the  form  of  a  Hopi  pueblo.  By  reason  of  its  age  and 
complicated  ground-plan,  the  latter  mainly  due  to  changes  in  house 
ownership,  the  arrangement  of  rooms  in  parallel  rows  and  the 
localization  of  clans  in  them  are  somewhat  obscured.  Increase  in 
certain  families  and  decrease  or  extinction  of  others  have  so  modified 
the  form  of  the  component  parallel  rows  of  houses  that  the  present 
clan  localization  does  not  always  represent  what  it  was  ancestorially ; 
but  notwithstanding  these  alterations  it  can  readily  be  recognized 
that  the  same  influences  that  have  given  form  to  Hano  and  Sichom 
ovi  have  been  strong  factors  in  determining  the  direction  of  house- 
growth  in  Walpi. 

Although  complicated  and  more  or  less  obscured  by  later  growth, 
there  are  well-marked  indications  of  three  originally  parallel  rows  of 
houses  in  the  present  ground-plan  of  Walpi  (pi.  xi),  showing  devel 
opment  from  three  building  nuclei.  The  main  and  centrally  placed 
of  these  three  rows  may  be  designated  the  Bear-Snake  ;  that  to  the 
west,  the  Flute  row  ;  and  to  the  east  of  the  latter,  from  the  "  Snake 
rock  "  southward,  the  Asa  row,  formerly  populous  but  now  reduced 
to  ruined  walls.  In  addition  to  these  three  rows  there  are  other 
clusters  of  rooms  in  Walpi,  the  most  important  of  which  is  situated 
on  an  elevated  site  at  the  extreme  southern  end  of  the  pueblo. 

The  Bear-Snake  house  row  is  not  only  the  largest,  but  also  the 
most  complicated  in  its  development.  Little  now  remains  of  the 
Asa  row  save  ruined  walls  that  rise  from  the  very  edge  of  the  mesa 


FEWKES]  SUN'S  INFLUENCE  ON  HOPI  PUEBLOS  96 

above  a  trail  on  the  southeastern  corner  of  a  small  court  in  which 
is  situated  the  main  kiva  of  Walpi. 

The  localization  of  clans  in  modern  Walpi  is  found  to  conform 
with  legends  that  make  it  possible  to  trace  the  growth  of  successive 
additions  to  that  pueblo  from  the  time  the  first  houses  were  erected. 
This  growth,  which  has  been  a  very  gradual  one,  has  been  influ 
enced  from  the  outset  by  the  sun,  or  the  same  cause  that  has  played 
such  a  prominent  part  in  the  growth  of  Hano  and  Sichomovi. 

The  first  houses  built  on  the  site  of  modern  Walpi  were  not  far 
from  the  so-called  "Snake  rock,"  a  remarkable  stone  pinnacle  that 
rises  from  the  rocky  floor  at  the  southern  end  of  the  open  space 
where  the  Snake  dance  of  that  pueblo  is  biennially  celebrated.  The 
earliest  clans  appear  to  have  erected  two  houses  at  about  the  same 
time  —  one,  the  Bear  house,  on  the  north  side  of  what  is  now  the 
court;  the  other  the  Snake  house,  just  west  of  the  Snake  rock. 
Both  of  these  original  houses  were  still  standing  in  1900,  and  pre 
served  fairly  well  their  ancient  features  —  a  ground-floor  room  with 
hatchway  in  the  roof,  and  a  second  story  consisting  of  a  room  which 
opens  on  the  terrace.  These  two  original  houses  were  built  some 
distance  apart,  separated  by  the  intervening  space  now  covered  by 
dwellings  that  form  the  western  side  of  the  dance  court.  Their 
present  union  has  resulted  chiefly  from  additions  made  necessary  by 
increase  of  the  Snake  clan,  the  Bear  clan  having  gradually  dimin 
ished  in  numbers  until  it  is  now  on  the  verge  of  extinction.  The 
union  of  the  Snake  and  Bear  houses  was  not  necessarily  formed  be 
fore  the  construction  of  other  house  nuclei  in  what  is  now  Walpi, 
although  it  took  place  early  in  the  history  of  this  pueblo.  In  its 
early  days  Walpi  was  probably  a  single  row  of  houses,  possibly 
divided  in  its  length,  individual  rooms  having  heliotropic  terraces 
and  entrances  now  looking  eastward  over  the  dance  court. 

The  enlargement  of  the  Bear-Snake  house  row  had  not  pro 
ceeded  far  beyond  these  boundaries  when  the  Flute  people  arrived 
and  sought  union  with  the  existing  inhabitants  of  Walpi.  They 
were  assigned  a  building  site  west  of  the  houses  of  their  hosts,  who, 
legend  says,  were  related  to  them.  The  Flute  people  had  origi 
nally  come  to  Tusayan  from  the  south  but  before  reaching  Walpi 
settled  Lefianabi  where  they  were  joined  by  the  Horn  clans  that 


97  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.,  8,  1906 

were  earlier  united  with  the  Snake  families  in  their  home  in  north 
ern  Arizona. 

The  first  building  of  the  Flute  clan  after  their  reception  in  the 
Bear-Snake  pueblo  was  constructed  on  the  western  rim  of  the  mesa 
and  was  separated  by  a  narrow  court  from  the  rear  wall  of  the  Bear- 
Snake  house  group.  The  original  Flute  house  is  still  standing, 
little  changed  in  its  general  appearance  by  adjacent  houses.  In  its 
rooms  are  still  biennially  celebrated  the  secret  rites  of  the  Flute 
priesthood.  This  house  may  be  regarded  as  the  building  nucleus 
of  the  western  row  of  Walpi  houses,  but  it  never  reached  any  consider 
able  length  by  reason  of  its  undesirable  site,  being  on  the  cold  side 
of  the  Bear-Snake  buildings  that  rapidly  rose  to  such  a  height  as  to 
cut  off  the  warm  rays  of  the  sun.  At  this  epoch  Walpi  was  com 
posed  of  two  rows  of  houses,  each  with  several  rooms,  one,  the 
Bear-Snake  row,  possibly  with  two  parts  not  joined  ;  the  other,  the 
Flute  row,  situated  a  short  distance  to  the  west.  Roughly  speak 
ing,  this  was  the  ground-plan  of  the  pueblo  at  the  close  of  the  first 
decade  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Years  earlier,  how  long  no  one 
knows,  Walpi  had  received  increments  to  its  population  from  the 
pueblo  of  Sikyatki,  and  about  the  year  1700  still  other  clans  came 
from  Awatobi  ;  but  these  arrivals  did  not  essentially  affect  the  out 
lines  of  the  growing  pueblo,  as  the  habitations  appear  to  have  been 
added  to  the  main  row  of  buildings  that  rose  higher  and  broadened 
especially  at  the  northern  extremity. 

But  the  arrival,  soon  after,  of  the  Patki  (Cloud)  people  from  the 
south,  and  their  assimilation  with  the  existing  Hopi  clans,  radically 
changed  the  culture  of  Walpi  and  greatly  affected  the  ground-plan  of 
their  village.  They  introduced  a  higher  form  of  ritual  and  richer 
mythology  and  ceremonials.  The  early  Patki  were  assigned  a  build 
ing  site  south  of  the  rows  of  Bear,  Snake,  and  Flute  houses.  The 
first  habitation  they  constructed  is  still  standing,  in  much  the  same 
form  as  when  built,  consisting  of  a  ground  story  with  hatchway 
forming  the  ceremonial  chamber  of  the  sun  priests,  an  organization 
introduced  into  Walpi  by  this  people. 

The  accompanying  illustration  (plate  xi)  represents  the  relative 
position  of  the  ancient  Patki  or  Cloud  house,  or  nucleus,  from  which 
all  other  habitations  of  this  clan  originated.  In  it  are  still  found  many 


FEWKES]  SUN*  S  INFL  UENCE  ON  HO  PI  PUEBL  OS  98 

sacred  objects  introduced  into  Walpi  by  this  clan.  The  original 
room  on  the  lower  story,  now  entered  by  a  hatchway,  is  still  used  in 
the  secret  rites  of  the  sun  prints  in  /<he  .^un  prayerstick  making,  as 

**->Jot/*^**v 

elsewhere  described.1        /  1  ;  •  '\  j      : 

We  have  riow  reached  a  period  jn  the  history  of,  the  growth  of 
Walpi  when  ft  is  extremely  difficiijt;  to/follc^w-the  Sequence  in  the 
addition  of  new  clans  by  the  localization  of*  their  descendants. 
Many  families  sought  the  ever-growing  pueblo  for  protection,  and 
as  fast  as  they  came  they  were  assigned  sites  for  their  houses. 
These  habitations,  in  the  enlargement  of  the  village,  were  as  a  rule 
absorbed  into  the  middle  row  of  houses  that  grew  broader  and 
higher  with  each  successive  increment. 

The  clan  house  of  the  Asa  people,  which  formed  the  third  par 
allel  row  of  Walpi  houses,  was  erected  at  the  head  of  the  steep 
trail  that  enters  the  village  from  the  southeast.  The  legends  de 
clare  that  this  clan  was  given  this  site  in  order  that  they  might 
defend  the  pueblo  from  enemies  coming  up  the  trail.2 

The  extension  of  the  Asa  row  of  houses  was  greatly  limited  by 
the  configuration  of  the  mesa,  and  as  they  increased  in  number  the 
buildings  covered  all  the  available  space.  In  the  end,  when  their 
ever-increasing  numbers  demanded  more  room,  they  were  obliged 
to  seek  other  building  sites.  Impelled  likewise  by  other  causes, 
they  moved  away  from  Walpi  to  the  Canon  de  Chelly,  where  they 
lived  in  cliff-houses  for  many  years.  Here  they  lost  their  language 
and  learned  that  of  the  Navaho.  Later,  however,  they  returned  to 
the  East  Mesa  and  founded  Sichomovi.  The  houses  they  inhabited 
while  in  Walpi  are  now  ruins  with  the  exception  of  a  single  room 
where  the  last  woman  of  the  Asa  clan  of  Walpi  still  lived  in  1900. 

It  was  at  about  the  same  period  that  houses  were  erected  on  the 
rocky  eminence  situated  south  of  the  little  court  in  which  are  found 
the  two  sacred  rooms  occupied  during  the  Snake  ceremonies.  Kat- 
cina  and  Asa  clans  were  the  first  to  take  up  a  building  site  on  this 
elevation,  and  it  was  later  covered  with  houses.  These  eventually 
were  extended  around  the  western  side  of  the  little  plaza  until  the 

1  American  Anthropologist,  vi,  500,  1904. 

2  There  was  formerly  a  ladder  by  which  one  mounted  to  the  edge  of  the  mesa  at  this 
point,  but  it  is  now  replaced  by  stone  steps. 


99  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [N.  s.,  8,  1906 

Patki  and  Katcina  group  were  united.  This  growth  was  of  short 
duration,  for  in  a  few  years  the  Katcina  clan  began  to  decrease  in 
numbers,  their  houses  fell  vcHd^ay,  ajidftke  beams  were  torn  down 
to  be  utilized  for  buildings  m'ntore;  desirable  situations.  The  reason 
for  this  desertion  isv evident :  .exposure  >to  cold  and  limitation  in  space 
for  buildings  wiA  belfof ropfo- fcxlpfaslS re  were'itf  ttldmMves  sufficient 
causes  to  bring  it  about. 

The  distribution  of  religious  paraphernalia  in  Walpi  confirms  the 
traditional  account  above  given  and  points  to  the  houses  in  which 
these  objects  are  kept  as  the  original  building  nuclei.  This  identi 
fication  of  the  oldest  houses  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  in  the 
annual  personation  of  the  Sun  god  in  the  Powamu  ceremony  this 
being  visits  these  houses  and  no  others,  as  is  the  case  in  Hano 
and  Sichomovi. 

It  has  been  shown  above  that  the  rows  of  rooms  forming  the 
ground-plan  of  a  typical  Hopi  pueblo  are  oriented  in  the  same 
direction,  and  that  this  is  due  to  a  desire  to  obtain  a  maximum  amount 
of  heat  through  heliotropic  exposure.  An  examination  of  their 
plans  and  a  study  of  the  legends  clearly  indicate  that  the  same  law 
is  operative  on  the  other  mesas,  and  can  also  be  extended  to  the 
whole  culture  area  commonly  known  as  the  Pueblo. 

There  remains  to  be  considered  the  cause  that  has  led  to  the 
adoption,  throughout  the  plateau  region  of  the  Southwest,  of  the 
Pueblo  form  of  architecture  —  or  the  grouping  of  clans  into  com 
posite  villages  with  united  rooms.  This  form,  as  I  have  repeatedly 
pointed  out,  is  protective,  and  has  been  evolved  from  a  preexisting 
condition  in  which  the  sedentary  people  of  the  Southwest  were 
more  scattered,  the  habitations  partaking  more  of  the  nature  of 
isolated  rancherias  or  clan  houses.  This  stage  characterized  the  pop 
ulation  of  the  Gila  valley  before  predatory  tribes  raided  it  and  forced 
the  people  from  their  farms.  It  was  likewise  characteristic  of  the 
other  great  valleys  of  this  region.  The  sedentary  people  were 
settled  in  the  most  advantageous  positions  for  agriculture,  evidently 
irrespective  of  their  foes.  The  advent  of  enemies  and  a  sense  of 
insecurity  led  to  consolidation  of  houses,  pushing  the  people  into 
inaccessible  canons  and  remote  valleys.  The  clan  houses  joined 


FEWKES]  SUN'S  INFLUENCE  ON  HOPI  PUEBLOS  IOO 

and  became  the  pueblo.  During  this  epoch  was  also  developed  the 
cliff-house,  synchronous  in  origin  with  or  later  than  the  Pueblo  form. 
Instead  of  antedating  the  latter  type  of  village  the  cliff  form  was  con 
temporary  with  it.  It  thus  happens  that  the  many  similarities  in  cliff- 
house  and  Pueblo  culture  are  not  so  much  due  to  descent  one  from 
the  other  as  to  elaboration  of  both  from  a  preexisting  culture  which 
was  formerly  spread  over  the  arid  region  of  the  Southwest  and  in 
the  adjoining  states  of  Mexico.  The  influences  that  led  to  the 
peculiar  architectural  features  in  the  northern  part  of  this  area  were 
the  pressure  of  predatory  tribes  and  the  desire  for  sunny  exposure. 

BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN  ETHNOLOGY, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


! 
i 


